I needed to fly to California this week for a funeral and business and would like to thank Rep. Dave Tucker (Meridian) for standing in. Reports are that he's done a great job. I've tried to keep up with the streaming media committee meetings and his pass downs and am excited to get back to the House on Monday! I've positioned a few bills that are now ready to go... Some of the issues tackled this week were:

Camping on state owned and managed facilities – The legislation cleared the House on Thursday with a vote of 54-16. This legislation will have a hearing in the Senate State Affairs on Wednesday, February 1st.

o FACTS: The Dept. of Administration was notified by the Occupy Boise group of their intent to commence an"indefinite vigil” on the grounds of the Capitol Annex. There is NO current state law that administers these activities on state-owned or leased properties across the State.
o The Dept. of Administration has received several calls from citizens requesting they be allowed to set up encampments in response.
o Rumors the Annex is an abandoned building and the grounds are due to be turned into a parking lot are not accurate, it is the future home of the Idaho Law Learning Center.
o There have been numerous instances of vandalism, violence and trespassing as a direct result to the Occupy Boise participants. As late as Wednesday night, security had an encounter w/ members of Occupy Boise, they stated their residence was maintained on state property and therefore were not trespassing. BPD was called to address the issue.
o Currently TWO sex offenders are living in the encampment and are using the address of the Annex for their registry requirements.
o This legislation shall not apply or affect policies, rules, statues or leases on endowment lands, department of parks and recreations lands or department of fish and game lands.
o This legislation will not infringe upon the First Amendment Rights of Idahoans.

Economic Outlook – The recommendations from the committee to JFAC are $33.3 million below Governor Otter’s estimate. It is important that we watch the next month’s revenue numbers as they come in before setting our budgets. Besides individual Department budgets, the Governor’s recommendations include $45 million for tax cuts, $60 million to the rainy-day funds and $41 million in one-time bonuses for state employees IF the revenues are on target. It is important that we recognize our quality state employees in weighing our budgetary priorities!
http://chumly.com/n/ff36f8